Superintendent

Dr. Chad E. Gestson has served as Superintendent of the Phoenix Union High School District since
the fall of 2015. Prior to being named Superintendent, Gestson was the district's Director of
School Leadership. In that role, he supervised principals as well as developed future principals
and assistant principals through an Aspiring Leaders program that he developed. He had
previously spent five years as the principal of Camelback High School, where he established the
first and only Montessori high school in Arizona.

Gestson served the Isaac School District for five years before joining Phoenix Union in 2009, first
as an elementary school assistant principal, and later as a middle school principal. A product of
Teach For America, he began his teaching career in the Roosevelt School District in 2001. Prior
to his public education career, Gestson was a commercial construction superintendent in Seattle,
WA.

Gestson holds a B.A. in English from the University of Washington, an M.Ed. in Curriculum and
Instruction from ASU, and an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from NAU. In 2009, he completed
his Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from NAU where he was named the Outstanding Doctoral
Student of the Year.

Gestson, who was the 2013 PUHSD District Administrator of the Year, was a 2013-2014 Rodel
Exemplary Principal, one of only seven in the state that year and the first ever high school
principal in Maricopa County. In 2011, Gestson won Arizona State University's Lead and Inspire
Award for his efforts in turning around Camelback High School. He also won the same award as
a middle school principal at Carl T. Smith Middle School in 2008.

Gestson serves on numerous local boards and councils, including Expect More Arizona,
ABEC (Arizona Business and Education Coalition), and United Way. He is the Co-Chair of Thriving
Together, a collective impact organization in partnership with United Way, Helios Foundation,
and other educational and business partners. He recently served as the president of his church’s
board of directors. He and his wife, Megan, currently a principal in the Roosevelt School District,
founded and run Sponsors For Scholars (@SFStoCollege), a non-profit organization that supports
under-resourced and under-represented high school and college students. They have two
children, Olivia and Andrew, ages 12 and 9, respectively, and reside in Phoenix.